Tumbling Down
by JigsawPuzzle48
Summary: Follow the story of a young Yankee named Nezumi who transfers to Karasumori High with one goal; revenge. Nezumi has her eyes set on a certain retired yankee boy who long a go gave up on his fighting side when he got involved into his school's tumbling team. Will she get her revenge or will an unexpected twist cost another life?
1. Nezumi & Kinoko atama

Karasumori High, it was so much different from the school she was used too. There were so many differences she could tell just by staring at the building, and the students gathering in the court yard. They seemed to be happy to go to school, to learn and to chat with their friends, whereas at her old school the students were merely there because they were forced to go.

This school was known for excellent education and its after-school curriculum. She couldn't imagine that students would want to stay at school after the last bell just to do something they would consider to be fun. As long as it involved school, it's not fun. Not at all.

The more she thought about it the less reason she saw to be there. But she wasn't there just for education, for after school activities or even to make friends She'd never been the social type, nor really interested or good at school. No, her being here served another purpose.

The uniforms were different from her school as well. The girls wore normal school fuku, and the guys had to wear a black gakuran. Needless to say she really stood out from the crowd. The moment she received her uniform she did the best she could to make it more her own. There wasn't much she could do with it though so she merely added a chain that ran from the front of her waist to her back on her skirt, and decided to wear her black hoodie over it. She wondered how long it would take for some teacher to adress her on that matter.

There was just one bunch of guys that slightly stood out from the rest. Lead by a guy with bright red hair, they crossed the school yard to another building. Most of them had chains hanging from their pants, opened jackets that showed their personal choice of shirt underneath. They were yankees, she could tell just by judging their appearence, not to mention the few bruises on their faces that gave away that they had been in a fight recently. Which meant that the guy with the red hair had to be Azuma Wataru. Very interesting.

Reluctantly she followed the directions given to her by the counsil to find my homeroom. It surprised her that they didn't feel the need to escort her to her classroom to make sure she'd actually go, but then she reminded myself that this was nothing like her old school. But to be honest, a guide would have been helpful since her sense of direction was terrible.

On her way to her homeroom she noticed that the few students who were lucky enough to have this hour free were staring at her as she walked passed them. The faint whispers as they pointed at her ever so subtly. These kids probably weren't used seeing someone _different_, lacking a better description at the moment.

Luckily enough she managed to find her homeroom fast enough, if she had to endure the staring monkeys any longer she would've done things she should not be doing on her first day, if she intended to attend this school for longer than one day. Which was her purpose since she had a task she needed to fullfill, a mission if you will.

She was about to open the door and make her entrance when a voice stopped her halfway.

"Don't you think you should knock first?"

It was a female voice that spoke up to her. She couldn't quite make out the tone of her voice but it surely wasn't friendly alone.

With a frown she turned to where the voice came from, "…Nande?"

"It's impolite to just barge into a classroom, especially when it's your first day," she told her.

Ah, so she's one of those type of girls. The good student who always followede the rules. It wouldn't be surprising if she was class president and captain of a team or something. The way she appeared she must be filled with confidence and maybe even some ego mixed with it.

She was wearing her uniform without any wrinkles or the slightest crooked thing. Her hair seemed to be styled to perfection, slightly curly as it playfully fell down to her shoulder and the top part on one side was tied into a mushroom-like bun.

"Is that so?" she questioned the as she brushed some hairs of out her face. The nerve of that girl talking to her like that, she might not know who she was or what she's capable of but she will soon enough, and then she won't be so impudent.

"Hai," she merely replied. She passed as she swiftly knocked on the door of the classroom and awaited the approval to enter.

She didn't know whether she really felt like these types of gestures were necessary, or just to spite the new girl but as soon as she entered the classroom she closed the door right behind her, leaving the new girl outside on the hall once again.

"Kuso…" she cursed under her breath as she threw open the door and walked inside. "Oi, Kinoko-Atama…!"

"Ehum…"

She turned around to see that not only the entire class, but also the teacher was staring at her. Not that she was intimidated by the teacher, from what she could tell he looked like a weak, nervous type of guy.

"Ah… soka…" She coughed slightly after glaring back at the girl one last time. She better stay out of her way as long as she was attend Karasumori High.

"You must be the new transferstudent," the teacher continues. "I am your homeroom teacher, Kashiwagi Yutaka desu. Hajimemashita!"

He surely sounded like an friendly, relaxed person. But it was doubtful he would be able to handle even a part of what her previous homeroom teacher had to endure.

He stared at her for a few moments as she tilted her head. Was he expecting something from her?

"E eto…" he started and turned to the class for a moment, "W-why don't you introduce yourself?"

"Right," she sighed as she took a few steps further into the classroom and stopped right in the middle. "Watashi wa Nezumi desu!"

There was a short silence in which everyone stared at her as if she lost her mind.

"Nezumi ka?" the guy with the red hair, Azuma Wataru asked mockingly.

That was who she was. Well, her real name was Akimoto Ayumi. You see, when she first joined her gang, she had to find her place in the group. Everyone had a specialty, besides fighting obviously. Since she wasn't the tallest of her age group, and people assumed she was a cute, friendly little girl when they saw her, she managed to easily slip in and out places, look around and find out things other people would never be able to figure out. She was silent, fast and people barely ever suspected her. She could manipulate people with her inside knowledge, and that is how she got the nickname Nezumi. She herself was quite proud of that nickname and preferred them to refer to her only by that name.

"Squeak squeak," one of his friends laughed. His hair was bleached blond and looked rather messy.

"It says here your name is Akimoto Ayumi…" Kashiwagi-sensei read from the note on his desk.

She sighed once more. Just because that was her name didn't mean everyone should know it.

"Hai, so desu," she reluctantly replied.

Kinoko-atama raised her hand and rose up from her seat. She had a weird grin on her face that Nezumi really didn't like.

"As class representative I, Saruwatari Michiyo, would like you welcome you to our class," Ah, so she was right about her. Class representative. Figures.

"Domo," she coughed with the roll of the eyes. She had her doubts that her words were honest though.

"Please take your seat over there, Ayumu-san," Kashiwagi-sensei pointed over to the empty seat near the back of the classroom.

"Hai," She nodded as she headed up to her seat. But before she could reach it, one of the guys sitting slightly up front shoved his bag in her way. She manage to stop right before tripping over it and stared at it for a moment before looking up at the guy.

"Got a problem?" he smirked.

"You should really watch where you place your bag, someone might trip and hit a …wall" As soon as she finished her sentence she gave a hard kick against the bag, kicking it all the way to the back of the room against the wall. The guy merely stared after it then turned back to her. She returned his stare with a pleased smirk as she walked on towards her seat.

She passed Wataru and couldn't help but glare at him. He merely stared back, slightly surprised at this expression. _"Don't you worry, Azuma Wataru, you will understand soon enough…"_

* * *

><p>After school she waited outside the schoolgates. She waited for Wataru and his gang to finally step out of the gymnasium. Apparently even they are involved in some kind of schoolactivity which surprisd her with such a reputation as his.<p>

"Ah look, it's Nezumi-chan!" the blonde haired guy smirked as they finally noticed her waiting in front of the gates.

"Nezumi-chan?" the boy with the black hair asked. He seemed slightly younger than the others, and she didn't remember seeing him in their homeroom either, but maybe he's just in another class.

With a slight smile on her face I proceeded to approach them.

"I knew even you wouldn't be able to resist….eh?"

She completely ignored his player-type antics and directed her attention to Wataru.

"Anata ga Azuma Wataru desu ka?" She said as I stop[ed right in front of him and stared at him, "Ne?"

"And what if I am?" he asked, clearly not impressed.

"Good," She nodded and took a step back, after which she held up my arms. "Fight me."

"Eh?"

"Why would you want to fight?"

"You have quite a reputation as yankee, Azuma-kun."

He merely stared at her. He seemed hard to read, which frustrated me.

"So?"

"I'm sure you're bored of always fighting those weaklings around here," she smirked and looked at the guys around him. She still had her hands raised.

"Oi, who are you calling weak?"

She giggled slightly before turning back to Wataru, "So? Are you going to attack or not?"

He scoffed and walked past her with his bag over his left shoulder. His friends quickly followed. She blink a few times as she lowered her hands and turned around, the smirk disappearing from her face.

"Oi! Doko ni iku no desu ka?"

He stopped and turnned his head around, "I don't fight girls," he turned around again and walked away.

She just stared after him, slightly confused by this answer. Surely the almighty Azuma Wataru wouldn't refuse a fight, whether it's with a girl or not. Might that be because he really is that much of a gentleman and less of a yankee? Or maybe because he feared her strength? Or did he think she wasn't strong enough? Well, in that case she should show him how strong she really was. Whether or not that was the reason, she would surely not give up until she had her fight. After all, that is why she was here.

"You're waisting your time," an all too familiar voice replied and she turned around.

"Ah, Kinoko-atama…" she frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean you're waisting your time if you're really thinking about asking him out."

Honestly, is that all those girls think about? That really was the least thing that's on her mind.

"Kanchigai!" She bit back. "I don't want to date him. I want to fight him!"

"Fight?" she repeated, only slightly surprised. Well, what did she actually expect looking at her. "Well, still you won't have any luck with that…"

"Sonna desu ka?" she frowned again. What would she know about that? "Why is that?"

She sighed with a hint of irritation. Well, if she didn't want her to ask any questions she shouldn't have brought it up in the first place. "You see, Azuma-kun is not allowed to get into fights anymore," she explained. "If he or any of his friends get into any fights, their team will be disqualified."

Disqualified? Oh, she probably meant that after school activity. She didn't know a yankee like him would care about something like that.

"So desu…" She nodded and thought about it for a moment. If there was one thing she knew for sure it's the fact that a yankee never changes. Once a yankee, always a yankee. Whether or not he is forbidden to fight, she was sure she could lure him out if she made the stakes interesting enough. Which she would, sooner or later. She'd keep on challenging him long enough. She have to fight him whatever it takes.

"Ja, matta!" she said as she turned the other way and walked off.


	2. Challenges

Chapter Two: Challenges

Taking a look around the area, she noticed a lot of yankees walking around. Most of them not even worthy to call themselves that, as she'd soon taken care of that matter. What to say. She was bored and so happen to come across a group of wannabe's who were trying to intimidate her to gain a personal treasure like money. See, that is why she loved her nickname and the way she came across to some. People thought she was just a helpless young girl, it was so much more fun to see their faces after she kicked their heads to the curb or they cowared in fear. It's a nice way to keep herself entertained and a nice little warm up for the real fight.

Even though Azuma Wataru refused to fight her this time with a scoff, she was certainly not letting the matter go. No matter what, she was going to fight him one day and she'd make sure he wouldn't live to tell the tale, that's for sure. And in the meantime she just kept herself busy with those wannabe yankees running around, maybe she'd find a challenge somewhere... though it was doubtful.

The next couple of days she noticed Wataru hanging out with an unlikely group of guys with whom he disappeared after school for their activities. They were nothing like the others. They didn't really look interesting enough to be even close to a yankee, now she didn't want to judge them on their appearence since she knew that it could be deceiving, but there was no doubt about it that these guys couldn't even hurt a fly.

So those were the guys that kept him from fighting her. It was because of them that he couldn't fight because they would get disqualified if he did. But from what, she wondered.

"Ah, Akimoto-san," Oh, it's her again. Saruwatari Michiyo, why do they always cross paths and she always felt like talking to her? She thought she had made it quite clear that she didn't like her and she thought it was vice versa...

"Nani, Kinoko-atama?" she sighed. She didn't even bother looking at her, instead she stared down at the carved drawing in her desk that she had been working on since yesterday. Whenever she got bored she usually did things like drawing on tables or carving in tables. Whose smart idea was it to give her a compass anyway?

She sighed. "I have a name, you know..."

"I know," she nodded and looked up at her with a grin. "But I like my nickname better."

"What if I started giving you a nickname," she said. "You wouldn't be grinning then."

"I already have a nickname," she scoffed. "But feel free to use it whenever you feel the need to annoy me with your conversation."

Ha, she thought she could outsmart her, did she? Obviously she doesn't know her that well, she had heard every comeback in the book.

"Anything else?" she asked slightly bothered since she was still standing in front of her desk.

She rolled her eyes, "I was wondering whether or not you had decided on an extra activity..."

She raised an eyebrow as she looked up at her. Was she being serious? Did she actually think Nezumi would be interested in doing some extra schoolwork after school?

"Majide?"

"Oh, don't worry. I'm sure we'll find something even for you" she said with a slight smirk before heading back to her seat. What was that supposed to mean, even for her?

* * *

><p>After class she decided to follow Wataru around. She had decided on a new tactic to reach her goal. She knew for a fact that he was extremely short tempered, so what better way to provoke a fight then by annoyingly following him around until he reached boiling point.<p>

Following him after school lead her to the gymnasium where he met up with some other guys, the less yankee-looking boys she seen hanging around earlier. They disappeared into the changing rooms and she decided to hide out on the inside bleachers to see what kind of after school activity kept them busy.

She had a very hard time holding in her laughter when they returned wearing bright pink t-shirts and white leotards. What kind of freakshow was this? The infamous Azuma Wataru wearing pink? Well, in all honesty it did match his bright red hair. She would have expected this from those other guys like that Takanaka kid who apparently was the captain, but they must have been forced to do this. It couldn't be any other way, unless they actually liked wearing these weird suits.

"Yoshi, let's do this, we don't have much time today," Takenaka Yuuta said as he and the other guys moved to the center of the matt that was spread across the ground.

From up here she had a perfect view of all the guys and she took her time to take in each appearence.

Obviously Wataru stood out with his bright red hair and rather stoicly expression. You wouldn't be able to tell that he is the leader of a yankee gang if you see them like this though.

Then there was this guy with messy blond hair. His name was Tsukimori Ryosuke. From what she had heard and seen so far he was quite the flirt, but people said he was an incredible fighter as well.

The third yankee is Nippori Keiji. Slim, toned and with jet black hair swept up into a quiff. Though a year younger than the others, he didn't seem to have any problems getting on with the rest of the group.

Those being the three core yankees that were mostly in her interest, she turned to the other guys. They still seemed like an unlikely bunch to be hanging out with Wataru, a guy with such a reputation.

This Yuuta kid had black hair in a simple bowl cut. There wasn't much special to say about his rather casual and innocent appearence other than the mole under his left eye that added a little cute factor to the whole boring appearence.

And then there is Hino Tetsuya. His black hair was cut in a simple matter. Somehow he seemed a little bored with the whole situation, not looking as excited as the others.

Kiyama Ryuichiro was another surprise to the entire group. To Nezumi he seemed more the loner than a teamplayer. His black, messy hair aside there wasn't much to say about his appearence.

Tsuchiya Satoshi was probably the most adorable of the entire group. And coming from Nezumi that meant a lot. He seemed younger than most of the guys and a rather innocent and nervous type of guy. The type of guy yankees usually beat up for lunch money.

Mizusawa Taku, another one of those average looking guys but she guessed he seemed like a nice guy. He wasn't her type of guy but he could pass for good looking.

Lastly there was Kaneko Atsushi who really stood out from the group in a different way. He looked like the nerdy type of guy with his glasses and rather blank appearence. Another one of those guys who wouldn't last a day at herold school since he would be the target of any and all tricks and pranks.

Overall an unlikely group, and she still couldn't tell what kind of activity this was that made them come together and wear those weird outfits. Until the music started and the group got into formation. Just as they started moving on the music, first with movements that had to be considered graceful in a way, then with jumps and flips. she finally realised what it was they were doing and it made it harder for her to hold her laughter.

How on earth did Wataru get involved in a rhythmic gymnastics team. It must be an forced task because he failed too much in school. There was no way in hell that the strong, intimidating Azuma Wataru voluntarily took part in such an activity.

Not that they were any good though. The moment they got around the considerably harder jumps, most of them tripped or bumped into each other and fell down. With a disappointed and rather irritated sigh, Yuuta got up and turned off the music.

With a wide grin on her face she emerge from the bleachers and started applauding as she slowly made her way down.

"Ah, you again?" Wataru asks as he's still on the ground.

"Are, are..." she said as she stop clapping and buried her hands in the pockets of her hoodie. "So this is what you do..."

"This is a closed rehearsal," Yuuta replies.

"Of what? Falling? You're so graceful at that though," she couldn't help but smirk.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Nippori frowned as he rubbed his elbow. He probably scraped it during his fall, but surely it would be nothing compared to the usual bruises.

"I heard your team obligations disables you from fighting," she say, directed at Wataru of course. She couldn't care less about the others, they have no business with her. "So I couldn't help but wonder what was so important..."

"Who told you that?"

She shrugged, "A little bird told me," but she soon shook her head. "Iie... Kinoko"

"Are you quite finished," another voice asked and they turned to the door. There she was again. Kinoko-atama, this time wearing a gym uniform and joined by a few other girls wearing the same. She changed her mushroom-like hairstyle for a simple ponytail, but that wouldn't stop Nezumi from calling her by her newly found nickname. "It's our turn now."

"But we barely even rehearsed," Satoshi said but she didn't really seem to care all that much. The way she stared them down gave Nezumi the impression that she really was a stuck-up girl who always got her way.

"Takenaka-kun, we gave you critical moments of our own rehearse time and you waisted it once again," she merely continued as the other girls sat down on the matt and started their warming up. "Now please, leave."

Yuuta sighed and turned around. "Let's go."

"Eh? Chotto matta!" Wataru called as he stopped Yuuta in his tracks. "You're giving up this easily? We have every right to rehearse!"

Hmm, apparently he really was passionate about this which gave Nezumi the impression that it might not have been forced upon him. Or maybe in the beginning. Still the whole matter seemed rather strange yet funny.

"Yeah! You heard him! Fight back!" she grinned with her fist into the air. Surely she could get some more fun out of this, especially if she could spite both Kinoko-atama and Wataru at the same time.

"Urusai yo," she replied. "You need to leave as well."

"Or else what?" Nezumi turned to her and crossed her arms. She couldn't make her leave, so if she chose to stay, there was nothing she can do about it. Every moment she talked to Nezumi it started to annoy her more and more.

"Ikuzo," Yuuta merely said as he continued walking. The other guys soon followed and Nezumi could briefly hear Wataru scoff before following as well.

Such a shame he gave up so easily, but it couldn't be helped. He really was serious about this.

"Soshite, anata..." she continued. "You should follow their lead."

Nezumi glared at her for a single moment, then sighed as she turn around. Fine, let her have her stupid gym. It's not like she cared, nor that she even wanted to be there when they start dancing around, the very thought made her sick.

Instead she hurried to try and catch up to Wataru and the others.

"Oi! Wataru! Chotto!" she called after him and reluctantly he stopped and turned around.

In a spare moment she pulled her arm back as she turned her hand into a fist, flinging it forwards as she gained speed and closed in on him. Her punch was directed to his face, but instead of actually hitting him, she stopped mere inches off his face, slightly disappointed to see that he didn't even flinch. Though in the corner of her eye she did manage to see a somewhat startled movement from the others. Yet Wataru just stared at her fist as if he had expected her to stop.

"Nani?"

"Masaka, owasure ja nai deshou ne?" She told him with her fist still raised in front of his face.

"Forgot what?" he merely raised an eyebrow, though she could tell by the tone of his voice that he was starting to get irritated. Good, that is exactly what she wanted.

"Our fight," she grinned.

"Eh, if you wanna fight that badly, I'll do it" Ryosuke frowned but she ignored him. She wasn't interested in fighting anyone other than Wataru.

"Or me! No need to bother Aniki" Nippori practically smiled from ear to ear. The fact that he called Wataru aniki was both cute and weird. To be honest, the guy was just weird himself but it gave him a certain charm, I guess.

"Dame!" he said as he tilted his head slightly to look at her. "No fighting."

Oh how she expected this answer. At least she got his friends to cheer on the fight, now Nezumi just needed her opponent to agree. "You might say you won't fight, but fighting is in your heart." she then look back up at him, "I won't give up."

With that said, she cheerfully turned around and skipped away towards the schoolgates. It was impressive that he still managed to keep his cool and didn't even react to her punch. It only made her wonder what would have happened if she'd actually hit him. She guessed she'd find out soon enough, if her plan worked out right that is. And they always did.

Though, the things she had heard about Azuma Wataru and the things she had witnessed this brief time she had been here seemed to be about two different kinds of people. The stories she had heard of Wataru were about fights and action whereas meeting Wataru, she was starting to get the impression he wasn't like that at all...


	3. Hot Blood

**Sorry, short chapter this time :3**

Chapter Three: Hot Blood

As she took another swing forward, she placed all her strength and weight in her fist as she placed it on his face, the force impacting with his jaw and forcing his entire head to move the way her fist had forced it, his body soon following as he landed on the floor. Blood was running from the corner of his mouth as he stayed down for the count this time. Which was the first and only smart move he had made since the moment they crossed paths.

She stood before them, legs spread apart as her arms were to her side and she looked down at her three victims. Surely they could be admired for lasting so long against her, but they were fools to try and cheat by pulling a three-to-one fight. She had warned them it was a mistake to mess with her for whatever reason they had to start talking to her in the first place. After all, she would never back out of a practice fight, but they had no idea what they got themselves into by bothering Nezumi.

Slowly she raised her right fist and stared at it for a moment. The spatters of blood stained her rather pale skin but as usual the sight of other people's blood on her hands gave her that certain rush. Some would say she was wicked for craving to see blood on her own hands in a battle, but it only answered her question whether or not she was strong enough. Strong enough to force someone's life liquid out of their veins. The trophy of a yankee.

She smirked as she turned around and headed out of the alley. These guys were merely part of the many victims that she would go through until she got her final battle. Whether or not it's voluntarily or not, Wataru will eventually fight her.

She stopped and stared up at the sky, clear blue. There wasn't a cloud in sight which made her realise that this was one of those rare, perfect days. She remembered how these were usually the days that Nezumi and her gang skipped school and went out. Looking for excitement outside, adventure and fun wherever they could find it. And they usually ended in beating up poor unfortunate souls that thought they could outsmart them, beat them or just crossed their path at the wrong time. Ah, how she miss those days.

"UAAAAH!" the guy really thought she was an idiot. She turned around, already expecting this desperate attempt to save his face and manage to block his punch with her hand, throwing her knee up into his gut and forcing all the air out of his body as she pushed him back and he landed on the ground again.

"Nice try..." She shook her head. "But you failed..." briefly she looked up at the old fashioned clock hanging against one of the store's outer walls in the distance, then turn edback to the guys on the floor. "And you made me late for school... tsk tsk..." she grinned as she turned around, picked up her bag from the ground that she dropped in front of the alley and headed her way to school. This was some nice morning exercise if she could say so herself.

* * *

><p>Calmly she walked up the courtyard and headed for the entrance of the building. Since she was already late for class she wasn't even going to bother to rush herself to get there. And she didn't even bother to clean up her knuckles from all the blood.<p>

"You're late," she heared as she passed the grassfield and stopped with a sigh, throwing her head back into her neck as she turned around with a bothered face and looked at her.

"Dakara nan nano?"

"Every student must be on time for class, those are school rules," she told her. It's only now that she realised she was sitting on the bench and reading a book. So far she hadn't looked up at her, yet she kept on talking.

"Psh... Then why aren't you in class?" she scoffed then a frown appeared on her face as a thought came to mind, "Don't tell my _you_ are skipping class?"

"Baka, of course not!" she replied as she finally looked up from her book.

"Oi, who are you calling baka, Kinoko-atama!" she snapped at her but she didn't really seem impressed.

"You're just lucky the teacher is sick and we have no replacement today," she got up from her seat and closed her book, holding it against her chest with one arm as she took a step towards Nezumi.

"Teachers actually get sick?" She frowned again. She had never experienced a teacher calling in sick at her old school. Those teachers seemed like robots or aliens, unable to feel or get sick and only work and think about working all the time.

"Seriously..." she sighed as she shook her head. She then looked down with a slightly concerned face, "Are you bleeding?"

She looked at her first for a moment, then looked back up at her with a proud grin, "No, I'm not."

"Then why is er blood on your hands...?"

She raised her stained fist and looked past it at her face with a proud grin, "I had to take care of some... punks on my way to school."

"You were fighting?"

"Betsuni," she shrugged. "You could hardly call it a fight," she laughed as she thought back at the other guys who were probably still trying to get up from the ground after she punched their lights out.

"Pride comes before the fall," A serious frown appeared on her face as she looked up at Nezumi and forced her fist down, "Don't mess with the wrong people around here."

"I _am _the wrong people," She grinned with her head slightly tilted, "Dakara nan nano? Why do you care?"

"I don't, but as class representative I just don't want anyone being late for class for such a foolish reason," she bit back as she flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Now excuse me, I have practice."

Nezumi watched as she brushed past her and headed for the gymnasium with her book pressed under her arms. Nezumi didn't know why but it felt like she was slightly overreacting. What did she expect, she was a yankee after all, of course she would fight or mess with the wrong crowd. She needed a challenge to prepare herself for her goal.

She shrugged off the thought and turned around, her attention drawn to the complaints and yells from an all too familiar voice in the distance. Apparently the male tumbling team wasn't allowed to practice inside anymore. Or not today at least, so they chose to practice outside instead. She was amazed by the fact that none of them seem to be really bothered by humiliating themselves, especially Wataru and his friends since they seem to have quite a reputation. How can anyone take you seriously as a yankee when you prance around wearing tights and pink shirts.

They were standing in a certain formation as they leaned forward and raised one leg into the air, it looked more like taichi exercise than tumbling but whatever, it was actually quite amusing.

"Are you sure you're not a ballet dancer?" She chuckled as she placed her hand on her hip. Wataru broke his concentration and hopped on one foot to try and gain back his balance as he bumped into Ryosuke who bumped into the next until all of them ended up on one pile onto the ground.

She couldn't help but laugh at this amusing sight, which only seemed to bother Wataru more as he jumped back onto his feet, cursing under his breath and approached her.

"What do you want now?" he bit at her. Ah, the way he spoke to her was starting to progress in terms of annoyance. If she kept this up a battle will be inevitable, perfectly according to plan.

"You know what I want," she told him as she stared right into his eyes. The red hair complimented his eyes and face actually, not that it really matters to her but it had to be said either way.

"Mou, iya desu..." Ryosuke sighed.

"Aniki, just fight her already!" Nippori said as he rubbed his knee slightly.

"See, even your friends are saying it," Nezumi grinned. Finally someone in the group was getting wise. "Ne, anata ga kowaidesu ka?"

"I'm not scared!" he yelled as he turned his hands into fists.

"Ne," she took a few steps closer, now standing face to face as she felt that this time the challenge would get a lot more serious than last time, as a smirk appeared on her face, "Okotteru?"

She didn't know what changed since the last time they spoke and she challenged him, but she finally felt like the spark of the hot-headed yankee was finally lighting up again. Maybe that was the reason he started tumbling, maybe he wanted to tame that side of him, but unfortunately Nezumi wouldn't let that happen before she got my battle.

"Ore wa oko~tsu tenai yo!" he replied as he leaned a little towards her, trying to intimidate her. How unfortunate that he didn't really impress her in his current outfit, with the pink shirt and white tights and all...

"Then bring it... Wa-ta-ru" she tilted her head slightly.

"I'll show you..-" he growled as he glared at hher but before he could even act the way she had hoped he would, someone had to spoil the fun.

"Wataru..." Yuuta said seriously as he finally got up.

Wataru stared at her, his temper flaring which showed in his eyes, but he merely scoffed as he relaxed his hands and took a step back.

"Ah~ you're not worth my time," he then said, slightly looking away.

She frowned and crossed her arms as she looked from him to Yuuta who merely stared back at her with the same serious face. That guy might be the captain of this team, but she didn't see why Wataru let him boss him around. He could easily take him on so why would he let him give orders.

"Hot blood in such a frail body..." Nezumi said as she turned back to Wataru. "I won't give up on this."

That being said she turned around and walked away. Apparently the skies lied to her. If Wataru had fought her just now, it would've been just like old times sake, fighting on the clear blue days for fun, entertainment and other reasons. And if that stupid boy hadn't stopped Wataru, the fight would actually had happened. But she wasn't worried about it. This was just the start, it only gave her time to practice with random victims.

"Oi! What is that supposed to mean?" she could hear him call after her. "I DON'T HAVE A FRAIL BODY!"

"Aniki's body isn't frail at all," Nippori quickly agreed.

Ryosuke waved his hand, "Just leave it, Wataru."

"Let's start again."

"GAAH!"


	4. An Unlikely Team

As the night was creeping on slowly she made her way through the slowly deserted streets as she headed for her home. Her temporary home that is, since she didn't want to grow attached to this place just yet. If everything went according to plan she could get her revenge and go back to where she belonged in no time.

Walking down the stone path that lead to the heart of the city, she noticed that most of the people still out were the shady characters that came out only at night. People with certain things to do that should not be done at daylight, mostly gangsters and yankees on the hunt who tried to stay off the radar. Maybe those were the people Saruwatari warned her not to mess with, but why would she know anything about these people or even care if Nezumi would mess with them or not. For some reason she was hoping one of them would come up to her and challenge her, maybe because she wanted to know what these so called 'wrong' people where all about, since she wasn't sure whether or not to judge on Saruwatari's judgement about people.

"Ah~ Gomenasai!" she looked up to see Nippori exit one of the buildings carrying a backpack that seemed to be filled with something heavy as he had a slightly panicked look on his face, "Please don't fire me!"

Fire him? Wait, he was working there? What kind of job could that be so late at night unless he too was involved with the wrong crowd. She wondered why he had a job in the first place.

"Don't come back until you've sold everything!" the loud and harsh voice from inside the building commanded. The tone in which he spoke really annoyed Nezumi for some reason, maybe because she didn't like it when people boss other people around in these kind of situations.

"B-but it's late..." Nippori tried but all he got was a door slammed into his face. He sighed as he dropped the bag and leaned against the wall. Such a sad face for someone who usually is pretty cheerful.

"Oi, Nippori-kun!" she called as she approached him. He looked up and seemed surprise to see her, then again she didn't even know why she bothered talking to him anyway since her attention was mostly for the person he refered to as aniki.

"Nezumi... What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing..." she grinned as her eyes dropped to the bag on the floor, "What's that?"

He quickly looked down and kicked the bag slightly behind him before looking back up at her again, "Ah! It's nothing."

"So desu ka?" she said thoughtfully as she took a few steps closer, "Ne, Nippori. You're not involved in anything... _illegal_, are you?"

"Of course not!" He immediately replied and she was just going to take his word for it.

"So why are you out at this hour selling stuff?" she tilted her head curiously. She wasn't expecting anything out of this conversation other than maybe a way to blackmail him or Wataru for the fight.

He sighed, "I-it's nothing, really," He seemed rather nervous.

"You can tell me," she urged on. "I promise I won't tell your precious aniki..."

"It's just a job, nothing else," he said as he picked up the backpack and tried to carry it over his shoulder. It was more than clear that the bag was heavy, even for him. But he kept a nice pokerface.

"Ah..." I nod. "Well, do you need some help?" She offered. She didn't know where that came from, maybe because she was getting bored from all the fighting for one night.

"No! Just leave me alone, okay?" Hmm, apparently it was a sensitive topic as he quickly headed off into the distance and she blankly stared after him. What a strange guy, for once she tried to be generous and she didn't even get any gratitude in return, nice to know.

"He takes pride in his work, it's admirable"

"Ah!" She jumped before turning around to the voice. "Kinoko-atama! Why do you keep popping up like that?"

Somehow she couldn't help but consider the possibility that she was stalking her. Everywhere Nezumi went she crossed paths with her, and it was starting to get annoying.

"I was just in the neighborhood..." she shrugged. Her hair was in her familiar mushroom-like style but she wasn't wearing her school uniform, instead she was wearing something that might just have crossed the line between cute and fashionable, which admittedly suited her. She was carrying her bookbag and a study book under her arm again.

"Very suspicious..." she frown as she tapped her cheek thoughtfully.

"Seriously," she scoffed. "I just came from the library and this is my way home."

Slowly she nodded. That made sense. She sure seems like the type to spend her free time in the library studying if she wasn't busy with an after school activity like the female tumbling team. And it was pretty plausible that this was the way she needed to go to get home.

"So Nippori-kun works at night?" she frowned. Apparently Saruwatari knew more about the situation that was going on, so while she was here she might as well tell Nezumi.

"He has younger siblings and his father's work isn't going that well, they need all the money they can gather so Nippori works before and after school," she nodded.

"Sokka..." Nezumi nodded. She also realized why he was so desperate when his boss kicked him out of the building. He needed the job and every cent it paid, even though it means working many hours after school carrying heavy bags and trying to sell the goods to the few people walking around, which is also a very dangerous job considering the people around here. "But if he doesn't sell everything in his bag tonight, he will get fired..."

"It can't be helped. I doubt he'll get anything sold out here, there are hardly people around..." she sighed.

"They are all at home already..." Then a thought crossed her mind and with a smile Nezumi look up at her. "So why not just sell door-to-door?"

"Eh?" she tilted her head slightly as she looked at Nezumi with a look of confusion.

She nodded, "Think about it, Kinoko-atama! Everyone is at home now, if you go door to door and try to sell them your goods people are quicker to buy stuff since they don't need to carry it around !" the plan totally made sense to her.

"Majisuka?"

"Majidayo!" she nodded. Of course she was serious about this! "It's the easiest way to sell things at this time."

"If you go door-to-door selling goods you will only get a door slammed in your face, baka!"

"Ugh! Stop being so negative, Kinoko-atama! It doesn't suit you at all!" she sighed. For once she was being generous and thoughtful which is very unlike Nezumi, and everyone was shooting her offers down like birds during hunting season.

"Stop calling me that!" she replied in a slightly more irritable tone of voice. "I am not negative. I'm being realistic."

"Well, do you have a better idea then?" she asked her with a frown as she crossed her arms.

She looked at the young yankee and shook her head, "How about minding our own business?"

She scoffed, "Yeah, well... I never asked you to participate in the first place. So. There!" she told her in a slightly childish manner. True, she never really asked Saruwatari to help her figure out a way to help him in this situation.

"And neither did Nippori-kun."

"Well, he doesn't have a choice, does he? I made up my mind and nothing is going to change that, so either you help me or just go home!" She told her off and turned around, "I'm going to look for Nippori."

With that being said she followed in the same direction that Nippori had left earlier. Nezumi didn't really care whether or not he wanted her help because of his foolish pride, she was going to help him out anyway. With or without the help of Saruwatari.

* * *

><p>Shortly after marching off she noticed Nippori sitting on a bench with the bag next to him looking kind of desperate. Surely he had figured out that his situation was hopeless already.<p>

"Any luck selling your stuff?" she grinned as she stopped before him and slightly leaned forwards with her hands in her pockets.

"Go away," he sulked in his seat.

"Are are, where is the genki Nippori-kun we all know and love?" She grinned.

Nippori glanced up with a slightly bothered look.

"Nezumi, stop bothering the poor guy," Nezumi looked up and grinned as Saruwatari approached them. So she did decide to follow her lead to help him out. Either that or she was just here to meddle with her plan.

"But I'm just being nice here," she whined. "And that's rare for me!"

"He said he didn't want your help," she replied. "Let the poor guy take pride in his own work..."

"Oi! Stop talking down on me!" Nippori jumped up and turned to her with a slightly insulted and surprised face.

"Yeah! Don't talk down on people like that!" Nezumi nodded enthusiastically.

"And you stop bothering me!" he then said as he turned to look at Nezumi this time while she notice a grin appearing on Saruwatari's face.

"Will you just listen to my idea?" she answered him, trying to ignore Saruwatari's pleased face. "It will work!"

"I don't want your help..."

"You heard the guy..."

"Stop defending me!"

Nezumi sighed slightly frustrated as she turned around, quickly grabbed the heavy loaded bag and hurried to the first door she saw. She heard Nippori call after her but ignore him. What better way to show him her plan worked then to try it out herself.

She knocked on the door a few times while pulling her hoodie over her head and waited for the door to open. A neatly dressed woman answered the door and looked slightly bothered by her sudden interuption of whatever it was she was doing.

"Sumimasen, I know I am bothering you at such a late time," She said, twisting her voice slightly to make it sound more cute and even a little weak. The only way to talk people into buying things is with a great excuse. "But my dearest little sister is very sick and my family is barely holding on as it is. We need money for medicine so I'm selling these..." she pulled one of the boxes out from the bag and stared at it for a moment. What was this? And why was it this heavy... "They aren't expensive... please spare some money?" She stared up at the woman with the saddest eyes she could possibly put on to convince the woman.

She stared at Nezumi for a moment, then looked back into her hallway and back to the girl.

"Well, of course," she nodded as she pulled out her pouch. "I'll take two," she saod as she opened the pouch and with a grateful grin Nezumi pull out another box, exchanging them for her money. She still wasn't quite sure what she was selling her but appearently the woman knew since she wanted more than one.

"Arigatou, I am very grateful," she said as she took a step back and turn around. The woman gave a gentle nod and closed the door.

With a wide smirk on her face she returned to Nippori and Saruwatari who had been watching all this time and she waved around the money in front of their faces. "See?"

"Wuaaa~ You actually sold some?" he said surprised as he followed the money with his eyes.

"Lucky..." she scoffed as she crossed her arms.

"If we just go door-to-door and act something up we'll have these things sold in no time!" Nezumi grinned.

"Yoshi!" Nippori nodded. "Let's do it!"

Ah, finally he listened to her. See, Nezumi can be nice for others for a change, though as stated before, it was very rare for her to show this side. And she still wasn't sure why she chose to meddle with this in the first place but it was kind of fun to act something out and con people into buying something. It gave a very nostalgic feeling since Nezumi used to do these kind of things when her gang was in need of some fast cash.

"Ne, Kinoko-atama" she turned to her as Nippori took over the bag from her. "Are you going to help us or not?"

She looked at Nezumi with a frown and sighed, "Well, I have no choice. I'm already an accomplice just being here..."

"Exactly!" she laughed as she tugged on her hoodie. She couldn't believe she was actually working together with both her and Nippori, but the whole idea seemed like fun.

The next hour they had spend taking turns to go knock on the door and try to sell their things. Nippori's act almost seemed realistic, which was a good thing naturally, but he just seemed to channel his inner troubles for this. And admittedly Saruwatari really surprised Nezumi with her acting, but that could have been expected somehow. They kept it up until all of the boxes were sold and Nippori made quite an amount of money.

"Surely you won't get fired now, Nippori-kun," Saruwatari smiled.

"Ah! Yatta!" He grinned from ear to ear as he sat down on the bench. "Arigatou minna!"

"I told you it worked! My plans never fail," Nezumi nodded.

"If only you guys put this much effort in your practices, you might actually get somewhere in the competition," she suddenly sounded slightly more serious.

Ah, really like her to spoil the moment like that. Sure she had a point, if the guys really cared about that stupid tumbling of theirs they would put more effort in training and might actually be able to pull of a choreography at the competition. Not that Nezumi could blame them, if they're not even allowed to take their time and rehears in peace like the female tumbling team, she wouldn't be motivated to try extra hard either.

"Not everyone is as perfect as you, Kinoko-atama..." She sighed. How conceited of her to say such a thing in such a tone. Nezumi didn't like it when people talk down on others whether they were her friends or her foes.

"I never implied that," she replied slightly irritated.

"N-ne... It's getting late... I-I'm going to head back," Nippori nervously said as he got up and threw the empty bag over his shoulder. What a disgrace for a yankee, but she didn't expect much of him in the first place.

"Oi, Nippori-kun!" she stopped him and got up herself, "Do not mention this to anyone. Especially not Wataru, understood?"

"Not that it's something to be proud of in the first place," she added.

"Maybe if you weren't here it would've been!" Nezumi scoffed at her.

"Grow up," she rolled her eyes.

"Ja matta!" Nippori quickly grinned before running away.

No, Wataru must not find out about this coöperation. No one can. Since this wasn't really like Nezumi, doing such a kind act, and she still didn't know why she even bothered helping him in the first place. Beside the rush she got from conning people, she didn't feel any more satisfied than she did before she helped Nippori out.

"Well, I better get going myself," she sighed as she picked up her book under her arm again. Nezumi still didn't know what was so special about that book for her to be carrying it around all the time but she didn't really care either.

"Yeah, don't wanna break curfew," She laughed as she fell back onto the bench and looked up at the now dark sky filled with a million little lights.

"Whatever," she scoffed. "Later!"

With that she walked the other way, heading home. Nezumi stayed there for a little while longer, thinking about her next plan. She was slowly starting to think that this might not have been such a bad idea. Maybe the way to get to Wataru is through his friends, the people that are closest to him...


	5. The Project

As Nezumi was walking home from school, she noticed the detour from the main road through the industry area since they were working on the pavement. Such a horrible timing but there was nothing she could do about it but just to take the detour since it was the only way to her home.

With her bag hanging over her shoulder she climbed over the fence instead of taking the main route. The people behind this all had made a path through the industry road so people wouldn't get caught in the more dangerous places, mess with equipment or get hurt in whatever way possible. But that was just a little too boring for Nezumi, plus the path was an even bigger detour than the detour itself so she decided to just follow her own path to get home.

Heading her own way through the area, she could hear the faint sounds of chuckles and the sound of metal being hit. Anyone else's judgement would just tell the person to keep on walking, keep an eye out for any danger and pretend they didn't hear a thing. But unfortunately Nezumi didn't listen to her better judgement, and let her curiousity get the better of her. She deviated from her path and headed for the direction she heard the sounds.

From a safe distance she noticed some familiar faces. Satoshi, Kaneko and Mizusawa were probably heading home together and had to take the detour when they were cornered by this group of yankees. Such a low act to gang up on these guys and she couldn't help but feel a little sorry.

One of the guys approached Kaneko with a evil grin on his face as Kaneko slightly seemed to cower in fear and doesn't dare to look at the guy straight up. The guy immediately grabbed his collar and pulled him closer, sneering some things that were too soft for her to hear, but she didn't like this sight at all. Someone needed to step in and since she didn't think these guys were going to be able to do something on their own and there was no sight of Wataru anywhere, she had to do it herself. Unbelievable, helping out the people she couldn't stand. Again.

"Oi!" she called as she jumped over the small pile of boxes. "Pick on someone your own strength!" No real offence towards these guys, but they weren't exactly talented fighters. They were great with tumbling, doing backflips and cartwheels but she doubted they could land a decent punch. And even though she barely even knew the guys other than that they were Wataru's friends, she couldn't stand if the weaker got bullied by anyone other than herself. "Let him go."

"Nezumi-san..." Satoshi said, surprised to see her pop up like that.

The boy chuckled, letting go of Kaneko's collar as he tilted his head slightly, taking in her appearence. She knew what he was thinking, it's what they all thought when they first meet Nezumi and it's that same misjudgement that would ultimately lead to their downfall. She had never seen these guys around and couldn't recognize the school crest on one of the boys' jackets, not that it was surprising since she hadn't been here for that long herself.

"Oh look, their little girlfriend is sticking up for them," he snorted to his buddies who mimicked the same amused look. "How cute."

"Ne, didn't your mother ever tell you that it's rude to talk down to people?" Nezumi said as she let her bag slip of her shoulder onto the ground and crossed her arms.

"What do you want, little girl?" the boy chuckled again. He seemed really full of himself, something that needed to change as soon as possible. And luckily she was just the right person to change it.

"Well, I'm a rather selfish person..." she grinned, "So I didn't want these guys to have all the fun."

"Fun?" the guy repeated. "Little girl, you have no idea what you're getting yourself into so you better scram!"

"Ah, so desu ka?" she replied with a slight pout as she took a step forward, her arms still crossed as she stared away for a moment. "Well, you have no idea who you're talking to either..." she directed her gaze back to the guy and his group. "So if you wanna mess with them, you gotta go through me."

"Brave words," he smirked. "I'll make you regret them," as soon as he spoke his last words he charged forward with his fist raised into the air. She didn't understand what it was with these guys and their need for rushed punches but all they did was showcase their bad temper and extremely sloppy technical mistakes.

Wherever he directed his punch was a mystery to Nezumi, not that she really cared. His timing was way off, his strength wasn't fully concentrated in his fist, his attention was barely focused on the battle itself and that helped Nezumi to smoothly block his punch with her arm. He stared at her for a moment, maybe even a little surprised, but she merely grinned at him. Quickly she pushed his arm away, twirled around and raised her leg to hit his side, giving him a nice stumble to the side as she stood her ground again. Block and Counter 101, this guy hadn't been taught well.

"Ku so~tsu!" he cursed through gritted teeth, clearly not amused by her counter attack. Well, she did warn him before, didn't she? So he shouldn't be that surprised. Not that he really did seem surprise, he rather seemed angered. Or more likely pissed. This guy was probably the top dog of his group and had to keep up a certain image, an image which could be destroyed if he would lose to such a little girl like her. All the more reason for Nezumi to show this guy who the boss was.

He turned around, his hands clenched tightly as he raced towards her again, but she caught both his punches with her hands as she looked up at him once again. "Shall we dance?" she smirked but he didn't quite seem to like her fooling around, so instead she raised her knee into his gut and released his hands. He clutched his stomach with both arms as he dropped to his knees for a moment, gasping for air. See, the good thing about being short is that the most vulnerable spots are in good reach. And this time she was being gentle, she could've aimed her knee a little lower if she really wanted to make him suffer. But not just yet. She liked to play a little longer before stomping him into the ground.

"Ne, are we having fun yet?" she asked him as she brushed her hair over her shoulder and looked up at his group.

They took this as a sign to charge forward as a grin appeared on her face. See, this was the kind of challenge she was talking about. One-on-one battles were so boring, a few perfectly aimed hits and the other guy was out for the count. But if she fought a group, once one was down the other would be right there, ready to take the next fall.

Quickly she glanced back at the guys behind her who were still standing there.

"Word of advice; either play along or stay out of my way," she warned them. "Once I get fired up in the game, I won't bother trying to keep the teams apart," she winked before turning back to the group and rushing towards them as well. She didn't really want them to play along, more players only made it more distracting since she couldn't rely on their strength. She would have to be keeping an eye out for them as well as taking care of the pests on her own.

The rather large group of mixed yankees; male and female, all seemed very smug when it came to their own ability. Though they wouldn't stand a chance against her own gang, it was a nice game to play. Never before had she fought such a large number of yankees at the same time, but that was not going to stop her from having fun. On the contrary, the fact that they were with more only gave her that extra shot of adrenaline she needed to finish this off, her own way.

The group circled around her, some flinging forwards to kick of punch her, most of which she managed to counter with her own fist, while she took the blow on the others. Someone else grabbed her arm, trying to pull her into a hold as another one raised his fist and managed to plant a punch on her face. Her mouth filled with the bitter taste of metal, a flavor she had tasted too many times before. She felt the bruise starting to take form in the corner of her mouth where the guy had hit her. Ah, the good old days. With a grin she looked back at him, surely the punch did a decent amount of pain but it was nothing she wasn't used to before. Instead she raised her legs to kick him away, turning her head slightly as she dug her elbow in the yankee's gut that made her loosen her grip on Nezumi's arms, making it easier for her to pull out of the hold and turn around to punch her in the face.

For a while the fight seemed to be equally matched, they managed to do a decent amount of damage to Nezumi, but she kept smiling all the way through. She stopped in front of the first guy who she assumed was the leader of the pack, who immediately took charge punching her face. Her body bend with the punches and she quickly bend back straight again, her hair covering her face as she looked back at him with a grin. He hit her again, and again and again and every single time she turned back to him with the same grin. she could tell by his face that this slightly creeped him out but it was safe to say that she did give a fair warning not to mess with her in the first place.

"Why!" he said through gritted teeth as he punched her again.

She turned back and grinned.

"Won't!"

Another punch. she bend back and grinned at him.

"You!"

Another punch. Another grin.

"Surrender?"

Another punch.

"Ne," She grinned at him as she tilted her head, "Okotteru?" he stared at her for a moment before she punched his face and kicked him to the side. One of his buddies charged towards Nezumi from behind, carrying a wooden plank. She turned around, grabbed the plank and ignored the splinters that pierced through her skin as she gripped the rough broken piece of wood. She kicked the guy in the gut, sending him back as she pulled the plank out of his hands and turned to the top dog. With one movement, as if hitting a baseball, she slammed the plank against his head, knocking him over before turning around and proceeding to attack the others the same way.

"Oi! Nezumi!" She looked up by the sound of her name and saw that Wataru, Ryosuke and Nippori had arrived as well to rescue their troubled friends. Just a little too late.

"Eh? You sure are late!" She looked at him for a moment and failed to notice the guy charging up to her until she felt his knuckles collide with her jaw. She bend slightly with the punch, her hair flinging over her shoulder and in front of her face. She glared back at the guy through the strands of hair as she wiped the blood from the corner of her mout and raised the plank up, forcing it against the side of his head and knocking him over. She decided not to pay attention to Wataru for the moment and take care of this fight first, also showcasing her fighting ability and hopefully stimulating Wataru to start a fight with her.

Eventually she was the last one standing and with a pleased smile she rested the plank on her shoulder as she dropped her other hand to her side. She turned back to the guy she assumed was the top dog and pointed at him with her free hand.

"And you..." She turned around completely with her hand still stretched out in front of her until she was facing the others again and she pointed to Wataru, "Are next!"

"Are are, masaka Nezumi..." Upon hearing that voice her smile immediately dropped as she kept on staring forward. "Are you still chasing him?"

"Masaka..."

Slowly she turned around and dropped the wooden plank aside. There he was, standing with his arms crossed and that cocky smirk painting his face. His calm posture could easily mislead you from the terror that hid behind those eyes as she had seen him in actions many time before. Luckily she always stayed on his good side so she had never gone through the torture herself but witnessing was a cruel punishment in itself.

"Saburou...?" She uttered his name with slight hesitation. What was he doing here?

"But I do admire you," he continued, his voice low and smooth. "For single handedly taking care of the grunts of my gang."

"Eh?" her eyes widened as she listened to his words. She looked over to the group of beaten yankees that were slowly crawling back to Saburou's side. They were all part of the group? Impossible, they were never part of the group when she was still around.

Saburou Ibuki and Nezumi once belonged to the same yankee gang. He was second in charge right after Mizumi, who was her best friend. The two of them seemed to hit it off pretty nicely, they had known each other for longer than she had known Mizumi and had always stuck together no matter what. Saburou was one of the strongest and most ruthless yankees alive, if you crossed the wrong paths with him it could very well mean the end of your life, though Mizumi was always around to stop him from the ultimate deeds he would have pulled off in a cloud of rage. Though they sometimes butted heads with decisions, Mizumi's word was the final answer and he had to follow by those rules. The night they returned from a fight that some of us stayed out off, he was the one who had to bare the bad news of Mizumi's murder when she fought Wataru. After her death he took over the gang but showed no interest whatsoever in vengeance, something that till this day she still didn't understand. And once she told him she was planning on going out and avenge her leader and best friend he gave her an ultimatum; follow his orders and stay back or go through with her own little plan and break any bonds with the gang.

"Nothing is better than a traitor killing off the weeds in your garden of strength," those stupid metaphores he spoke with, riddles that no one ever lived long enough for to solve.

"Oi! Who are you?" Wataru called to break the silence that filled the void between them as she and Saburou kept on glaring at each other. He was up to something, she just knew it and the fact that he actually showed up here with the entire gang only worried her more.

"An old friend," he told him as he lowered his arms into the pockets of his jacket. "I'll leave further introduction to our little Nezumi," he smirked. "We have better things to do."

He gave a quick salute, his smirk never leaving his face, before turning around and marching off with the others following close behind.

"Such a bother, ne? " Ryosuke sighed as he looked from him to Wataru, "Acting like he's too good for introductions..."

Nezumi stared after him for a moment and turned around. She picked up my bag from the ground and threw it over her shoulder. It made mher wonder whether or not he reconsidered the vengeance for Mizumi. And that lead him here. After all, it was him that told her who killed her, yet Wataru didn't seem to remember Saburou very well. Ah, maybe he had one too many hits to the head and forgot.

"Ne, Nezumi, who was that guy?" Nippori asked bluntly.

"No one," She told them simply. He was not their concern. Not yet at least. Only hers, and whatever the reason was that brought him here, she didn't want them to meddle with it. Firstly because they had no idea who they would be messing with in the first place, and secondly because she wanted to have a chance to fight Wataru before Saburou got his hands on him.

"Ah, Nezumi-san!" Satoshi quickly said as she wanted to pass them without a word. "Arigatou."

She stopped and briefly glanced back at him. He surely seems grateful, not that it would matter. She couldn't actually believe she helped them out, but now that she knew who the leader behind that group of idiots was, she was glad she did. She gave him a quick nod before walking away, not sparing anyone else a look.

* * *

><p>The next day she still couldn't get Saburou out of her head. It was all just a little too suspicious for her, and she couldn't stand it if she couldn't figure out what was going on.<p>

As she arrived at school she noticed Saruwatari sitting on the same spot as usual, but this time she wasn't reading her book. No, she looked rather distracted and even a little tired.

"Ohayou, Kinoko-atama," She grinned as she tried to forget her own worries and stopped right in front of her, "You look horrible."

"How nice," she nodded vaguely. Did she even understand that Nezumi was insulting her? Instead of reacting like she normally would, she kept on staring at the screen of her phone for no apparent reason.

"What? No counter insult? No moaning about your nickname? Nothing?" She frowned. "Are you sick?"

She sighed frustrated as she looked up at her, "I'm just tired. Leave me alone!" she snapped as she got up, grabbed her bag and marched off towards the school.

Nezumi stared after her and blinked a few times in confusion. That was the weirdest reaction she gave her so far, and she didn't even really know what she did wrong this time. She liked bothering Saruwatari but she couldn't take credit before knowing what it was that she did. Maybe the whole thing with Saburou made her a little too suspicious and she actually just reacted normally to Nezumi being a bother.

"Oi! Nezumi!" Oh no, not him again. For once she didn't want him bothering her or the other way around. In fact, she just wanted to avoid him for a few days.

"What now?" She sighed as she turned around and faced him. Ryosuke and Nippori at his side again, they were like the three musketeers.

"Who was that guy?"

"He said he was an old friend, but he sure isn't ours." Ryosuke nodded.

She rolled her eyes, "I've already told you. He is no one!"

"How rude. Don't you want to introduce us to your friends?" Nippori grinned.

"He is not my friend." She stated.

"Well, he seemed to know you very well," Wataru replied suspiciously. "And I want to know if we have to worry about him bothering Satoshi and the others again."

She scoffed which caused him to frown. "Please, they couldn't care less." She shook her head. "Listen up and listen good," She turned to him and glared into his eyes. "The only person you have to worry about is me, Wataru. I swear now that we will have a fight and I will not lose to you!" with that being said she turned around and marched off to the doors of the school. Seeing Saburou here has only driven her more. She needed to fight Wataru. She needed to get her vengeance and after she had finished with him... Saburou was next. She would show him what a traitor could really do.

The entire day, Wataru had been glaring at Nezumi and awaited her to answer his question about Saburou. Though she thought she had given him a fair warning about what he should be worrying about instead. He even tried to make a deal with her, if she would tell him about Saburou he would fight her, but she didn't really take his word for it. If only they knew what kind of person Saburou really was, they wouldn't be so interested.

Saruwatari seemed occupied and distant as well. Deep in thoughts she was staring down at her desk as Kashiwagi-sensei was explaining something that might be important but since she hadn't been paying attention all day she didn't think it would matter if she would listen now. He seemed to have more trouble trying to gain Saruwatari's attention then mine, which was odd since she was usually the one with her hand raised the entire time, asking a lot of questions and answering a few from the teacher which proved that she knew more about the subjects them was healthy. But that was expected from the class representative.

"...Coupling project!" Kashiwagi-sensei finished and finally gained Nezumi's attention.

"Eh?" What coupling project? What was that all about? Oh, maybe she should've paid more attention to what he was telling them.

"I will draw your names from these bowls. One of the girls and one for the boys. And you will be forced to stick together and work together to get to know each other..." he explained with a wide smile. He seemed to be the only person who was actually enthusiastic about this plan.

"Like people would actually spend time together.," Ryosuke scoffed. "As soon as this class if over, the project ends too."

"I expected that answer..." He said, slightly hesitantly. "That is why I brought these..." he held up a pair of iron handcuffs from a bag. Was this guy serious? He was going to tie them together for the entire day just to make sure they would actually do the assignment? And why did they even have to get to know each other. She wasn't interested in her fellow classmates!

"That is ridiculous!" Nezumi scoffed but he ignored any other comments to his plan.

He pulled out the first name out of the guys' bowl. It was Kiyama, he was paired with one of the girls from the tumbling team. Ah, at least they had something in common, although neither of them seemed bothered nor interested in working together. The two of them were called forward and Kashiwagi tied them together with the cuffs.

The next name was Ryosuke. He was all ready to be paired up with a girl, probably hoping to score another girlfriend to add to the eight he already had. Or it might be ten already.

"...Saruwatari Michiyo-san."

Upon hearing her name, Saruwatari finally responded. Though doubtful that she had any idea what was going on but reluctantly came up to the front of the class and waited to be tied to his right arm. Ryosuke seemed slightly mixed about this pairing since she never really showed any interest in him before, but soon enough that same smile appeared on his face again and Saruwatari stared at him with a frown. Right, she wasn't pleased at all.

Next was Wataru. Oh how she felt sorry for the poor girl who was going to get stuck to him.

"...Akimoto Ayumi-san."

"EH?"

"EH?"

Both of them jumped up in surprised. There was no way the two of them were going to be tied together and forced to work together. She didn't care how important this project might be for her grade, she didn't want to get to know Wataru and she didn't want him to get to know her either. Simple as that.

"You have no other choice... Please come here," he said, trying to stay as calm as possible.

"And you must have a death wish!" Nezumi growled back.

"If you don't participate in this project you will get a bad grade..." he continued, standing his ground which could be admired since he usually was a little more nervous opposing either one of them. "And a bad grade means study hall and no after school activities."

"Wataru, think about the competition!" Takenaka immediately told the red head. Right, as soon as tumbling was involved, all of them switched to panic mode. Well, that might be a reason for Wataru to go through with this but Nezumi wasn't even part of an activity and she couldn't care less about theirs.

"Fine..." he sighed and reluctantly headed to the front of the class. And stubbornly Nezumi stayed in her seat. "Oi, Nezumi! Come on!"

"Muri desu."

"Get up!"

"Dame!"

"Baka!" Wataru growled and cursed under his breath as he roughtly snatched the cuffs out of Kashiwagi's hands and marched towards her, grabbing her arm and threw one side of the handcuffs over her wrist and locked the other one around his.

"Oi! Baka!" She called as she tugged on the iron ring around her arm to try and get it loose. But it was stuck and Wataru sort of seemed pleased with this. He could grin all he wanted, this only motivated her more to kick his ass once this stupid project was over.


	6. Ties That Bind

"You've got to be kidding me..." she sighed as she stared at the door in front of her. It was the door to the boys' bathroom and Wataru was really implying they actually had to go inside.

"I wish," he replied, seeming just as embarassed as she was.

"Can't you just pee in the bushes or something?" she whined as she leaned against the wall and looked at him.

"Let's just go!" he sighed and opened the door to check if anyone was inside. He then dragged her inside and stopped by one of the urinals as she leaned against the little separation thingy and looked away. This surely wasn't something she was interested in seeing, plus the entire situation was really awkward for the both of them. Sure, you can't do anything about it when nature calls, but why now?

"Hazukashii..." she sighed as she placed the palm of her hand against her head.

"Dama~tsu," he growled back and she took a look around, avoiding a certain area to keep out of more embarrassing sitations. It was weird, she could actually say she had never been in a boys' bathroom before. Not that it was all that special, it was just a bathroom, but she had never actually been inside one. Ah, and with good reason. She didn't belong in there. It stinked, literally.

The door opened and she braced herself for another awkward moment, since she noticed that most guys at this school, except for the yankees, were pretty awkward when it came to girls. Sure, you had the sportive, popular guys who were good with the smooth talking, but there were also guys that merely stuttered when they were in the presence of the opposite sex.

"Ah, aniki! Here you are," he started with a grin but then noticed Nezumi. Of course he had no clue about the project since he wasn't in their class nor was he taught by Kashiwagi. "Eh?! Nezumi?!"

"Yo..." she gave him a slight salute.

"Eh... Na-nani? What are you doing here?" He stumbled while Wataru frustratingly turned around.

"Oh, you know. Just chillin' in the boys' room," she grinned. What did it look like she was doing?

Wataru sighed as he headed for the sink, dragging her behind him. He quickly washed his hands, splashing some water on her sleeve as well, then turned to Nippori.

"You were looking for me?" he asked, completely ignoring her silent complaints about her wet sleeve. Seriously, wearing wet clothes just felt so uncomfortable, even if it was just a sleeve.

"Eh?" he blinked as he looked from Nezumi back to Wataru, "Ah, so desu ne! Takenaka-kun asked me to get you. The girls' team agreed on letting us train in the gym today."

"Eh? So desu ka?" Wataru sounded surprised.

She grinned. "Ah, so Kinoko-atama did learn something that night..."

"Tabun..." He nodned and Nezumi noticed Wataru staring from him to her and back in confusion. Ah, right, he didn't know about the night they helped Nippori out. And it should stay that way.

"Mou, what are you waiting for?" she asked as she tugged on the cuffs. "Let's go before she changes her mind and kicks you guys out again," Who knows, she really seemed the unpredictable type, she might just change her mind.

"Will you hurry up?!" Wataru growls as he dragged me out of the bathroom, out of the building and across the schoolcourt towards the gym. He and his friends had to meet up for practice and they got to use the gym today, although she didn't see how he could even participate while they still tied together, which was his fault by the way.

"Stop pulling so hard, baka!" she snapped back as she tugged on the chain of the cuffs, "They are not exactly comfortable," She felt her skin turning red from the ring as it moved up and down her wrist, plus her arms were still a bit sore from the fight yesterday.

The entire day they had been dragging each other everywhere, but since Wataru was slightly bigger and had more strength in this case, she was usually the one being dragged everywhere he went. And being dragged into the bathroom was an all time low for her, something she would never speak of again.

"Well hurry up then!"

She expected he would start to regret his own action eventually. After all, he was the one who forcefully tied their arms together even though she was so against the entire idea. Stupid Kashiwagi-sensei and his stupid idea to make students to get to know each other, if they were actually interested in someone else they would just have a normal conversation with the person, don't you think?

They entered the gym, the other guys were already there, fully changed into their shirts and tights. And to their surprise, Ryosuke was there as well, without Saruwatari hanging from his arm. As a matter of fact, all of the tumbing team members who were in that class were without their partners. Nezumi felt cheated!

"Oi! Why aren't you guys tied?!" Wataru demanded to know.

"We explained our situation to Kashiwagi-sensei and he agreed to untie us already," Yuuta explained calmly as if the whole situation was kind of obvious.

"Eh?" She looked up. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go and find him!" she said as she turned around and dragged Wataru behind her.

"Oi! Where are we going?"

She turn around and looked at him, "Baka!" she held up her arm and automatically dragged his up as well.

Finally, he realised what her plan was and marched off as if it wa his idea, dragging Nezumi behind him as well. The guy could be awfully thick headed sometimes.

* * *

><p>"WHAT?!"<p>

They stared at him as he desperately went through the bag of keys on his desk, starting to panick slightly.

"What do you mean, it's not there?!" Wataru added and snatched the bag out of his hands, turning it upside down onto the table and started looking through the pile of keys.

"It's not there. Every key has a certain color tag, yours had a pink one and it's not there," Kashiwagi-sensei explained nervously.

"Masaka," She sighed as she helped Wataru go through the pile of keys. How could he have lost the key? What kind of teacher is he?! It must be there! "Are you sure about the color?"

"Definitely," he nodded. "It's the same as the color of the strap around the chain," he pointed down to their handcuffs and she follow his hand.

True, there was a small pink strap around one of the rings of the chain. That is how he could seperate every key, unless he loses the key. That idiot!

"Let's just try out all of these then," Wataru decided as he picked up a handful of keys and started trying to prye the lock open. Obviously it didn't work, none of the keys were identical to the one that they needed.

"Don't you have a spare?" she looked up at him. He must have a spare key. Everyone has a spare key of something important like this. Right?

"Well..."

"Don't tell me you lost that one too!"

"Baka!" he screamed.

Nezumi knew this was a horrible idea. And thanks to Wataru they were stuck like this until Kashiwagi found his key, or the spare.

"Well, what are you waiting for?! Go order a new one!" he commanded.

"I-I already did that..." he began.

"But...?" she frowned.

"But it's going to take a while..."

"**What?!**" It wasn't only Wataru and Nezumi that called out. They turned to the door and Kashiwagi opened the door, after which most of the guys literally dropped in. Those idiots were eavesdropping!

"But what about training?" Yuuta immediately asked.

"Oh god, can't you ever think of anything other than your stupid training?!" Nezumi scoffed.

"Oi! It's not stupid!" he immediately defended.

"No, you're right..." She nodded and then looked at him. "But you are!"

"Nani?!"

"This is all your fault!"

"Haa? Nezumi! Like you knew he was going to lose our key!"

She nodded. He had a point there. There wouldn't be a problem if he took more care of his keys!

"**It's all your fault!**" they both called as they turned to Kashiwagi.

"You lost their key?" Nezumi looked up and saw that Saruwatari was now standing in the doorway as well. "Sensei, how irresponsible of you, with all due repect." Wow, she didn't know Saruwatari would seriously care about this. She'd actually imagined she would be laughing her mushroom hairbun off right about now.

"I guess you can take back the gym today then..." Takenaka sighed disappointed. Which Nezumi could somewhat understand since it was rare that they got to use the gym to practice, "It's impossible to do anything like this."

"You can still train with the others though," she replied. "I'm sure Wataru-kun can learn by just watching and it might to you some good too, Nezumi-chan."

"Eh?" What did she mean by that? And did she just call her Nezumi-chan?

"Don't you want to take the gym back?"

She shook her head, "No..." she then turned to Kashiwagi. "You better check if you lost any other keys... Before the principal finds out." She shook her head and walked away again.

She sure was acting strangely today, and somehow she wondered why. Not that she cared about her but she didn't like it if she acted this way, it took the fun out of making fun of her.

"So what are you guys going to do after school then?" Ryosuke wondered.

They looked at each other. That was something they hadn't thought of yet. Not like they expected this to happen of course. It's not like she wanted to be stuck to the guy she want to fight and break so badly.

"I will explain everything to your parents, I'm sure they'll understand if you..."

"There is no way you are calling my parents," She immediately interrupted.

"And I'm not so sure if Wataru's mother will be so pleased with your irresponsible behavior, sensei," He grinned slightly. Well, can you blame her?

"I-I'm sure it'll be fine," he nodded.

Wataru scoffed but Nezumi merely sighed. She didn't want to be stuck to him! She could bet Kashiwagi did this on purpose for whatever reason there could be for thinking of something as this. She was sure he had the key somewhere but pretended he lost it just so they could get along or something. Maybe this was Saruwatari's idea? Maybe that was why she was acting all weird, trying not to be suspicious but it actually made her more suspicious? Or, maybe she was being paranoid...

"You better know what you're doing, Kashiwagi!" Wataru growled at him.

* * *

><p>They stopped in front of a rather authentic looking café. Apparently this belonged to Wataru's mother who was running it all by herself, and unfortunately this was going to be the place Nezumi had to stay until Kashiwagi found the key or received the copy. She wondered how he was going to explain this to Wataru's mother, and moreover how she would react. From what she had heard, Wataru's mother was a very... interesting person.<p>

"Okaeri!" a female voice greeted and as she looked further into the café, she notice a woman with her back turned to them preparing something on the counter. Ah, that must be his mother then.

"Tadaima~" he announced grumpily as he dragged Nezumi inside behind him, followed by their teacher. Ryosuke and Nippori followed as well, since they seemed to be follow Wataru almost everywhere and anywhere.

"Ah~ It smells so nice in here," she said as she took in the scent of the room. She couldn't quite place the scent with the dish but it was smelling delicious nontheless.

"Arigatou..." She turned around and Nezumi could get a good look at her face and appearence. She was wearing an old fashioned yukata with her sleeves tied up for work. Her brown hair was tied up as well. She didn't seem that old, nor very strict for that matter. But then again, looks could be deceiving. she could know. And yet she could recognize a little of the woman in Wataru so she was sure she had some yankee blood in her as well. "Eh? And who is this?" she looked past him at Nezumi.

"Eh? Ah, kore wa Nezumi desu." He merely replied.

"Oi! Wataru!"

I shook her head with a grin, "Iie, daijobu da... Nezumi is my nickname."

"This is Akimoto Ayumi-san," Kashiwagi introduced her right before she got the chance to introduce herself. Which was pretty annoying since she was fully capable to introduce herself in a polite manner when I needed to.

"Ah, Kashiwagi-san. What are you doing here today?" she seemed surprised to see him, which was understandable since most times when a teacher came to a student's home it was because of something bad. But the way she said it made me wonder how many times this guy had been here before.

"Well... There has been a slight... problem that occurred today..." he said slightly nervous. See, even he was intimidated by her even though Nezumi wasn't that impressed.

"That's an understatement," she sighed as she rolled her eyes. It was impossible to call this a slight problem. You could call this a huge problem, or a problematic screw up but definitely not a slight problem.

Immediately she turned to Wataru as a harsher look appeared on her face and she placed her hands on her hips, "What did you do this time?"

"Oi! I'm innocent! He's the one who messed up!" he pointed to Kashiwagi with a growl.

"Ah! It's nothing bad, really," he immediately interupted the mother-son discussion that was about to unfold, unfortunately.

"Again, understatement!" Nezumi said, raising her hand up to let her sleeve fall back, revealing the hand cuff that tied her arm to Wataru. His mother stared at it for a moment, probably trying to figure out why they were stuck together in the first place, then turns to Kashiwagi with a questionable frown.

"I've started up this project, connecting students together for the day so they can learn more about each other..." He explained, trying to stay as calm as possible. It still seemed to me like he honestly thought this was a good idea, to force students together by tying their arms together.

"So desu ne...?" She looked over to Ryosuke and Nippori. "But why aren't they bound together?"

"I'm not in that class" he grinned his goofy grin. Which was true, of course, since he wasn't even in their year.

"And Kashiwagi-sensei released me after class for tumbling practice," Ryosuke nodded.

She nodned, then turned back to us three.

"Ah, see... The problem is... Every pair of handcuffs has their own set of keys and...-"

"The idiot lost our key!" Wataru fell in, sounding even more annoyed than before.

"And the spare key," Nezumi nodded.

"Nani?" the stern look on her face only increased as she fully focused on Kashiwagi. Apparently she wasn't that pleased with his irresponsible behaviour as well, clearly. "How could you let this happen?"

"That's what I said!"

"Daijobu! I already ordered another key..." he tried a nervous grin but her glare really was intimidating. She hadn't really raised her voice yet, but the look in her eyes and on her face said it all. This woman was not pleased. "So... until then... I am afraid that these two are stuck together."

"Yoshi," she nodded, her temper suddenly cooling down again and she turned to Nezumi, "Well... Welcome."

She slowly nodded. Well, that was not exactly what she had expected. Apparently she just accepted the situation like it was normal. How odd.

"EH?!" Wataru called out, apparently even more surprised than Nezumi was. "Is that all?"

"Clearly there is nothing I can do about this," she said as she crossed her arms and turned to face her son, "Besides, it might be good for you. You might learn some manners."

"I doubt it!" He scoffed and glared back at Kashiwagi.

"Oi," Nezumi said as she looked at him. "Dou iu koto?"

He ignores her. Instead he kept on glaring at Kashiwagi who tried his best to avoid his gaze. With a faint smile he nodded a few times before saying his thanks and goodbye and left. Well, he proved to be utterly useless once again.

It was funny though that Wataru's mother reacted the way she did. Although slightly annoyed by the irresponsible behaviour of their teacher, she couldn't care less about the situation. She considered this to be either a punishment for Wataru or a learning moment, yet it was just unfair punishment for Nezumi.

After Kashiwagi left she returned to the kitchen area of the café and started cooking again. Not long after the four of them were presented with her special homemade omelets, that was what she smelled when Nezumi stepped inside and by the looks of it it was just as tasty as it smelled. And indeed, it was even better than it smelled and looked. This woman really knew how to cook.

Yuuta, Satoshi, Mizusawa and Kaneko stopped by later that evening. Yuuta insisted they would at least discuss their choreography for their upcoming competition since they couldn't practice in their current situation.

With a bored look on her face Nezumi leaned her head onto one arm as she watched while Yuuta moved around some dolls on the table, each of them indicating one member of the team.

"Then Ryosuke and Wataru do a backflip across here and here, and then...-"

"Do you guys plan on winning?" Nezumi interrupted him as she vaguely stared over the dolls to him.

He looked at her, "Eh?"

"You heard me," she replied.

"Of course we want to win," Satoshi nodded, judging by the looks on their faces the only guy who understood her question. Or who wasn't playing dumb with her.

"Then maybe you should forget all the dancing and actually add some tumbling moves? Since this is tumbling?" So far all she had seen from the choreography it merely existed out of animal like poses and ballet movements, with a rare flip or cartwheel. If they really wanted to win they needed to actually showcase what they could do.

"What do you know about tumbling?"

She rolled her eyes, "Not much, thankfully, but this choreography is so boring it makes me sleepy," she told him.

"So?"

"Dakara..." She sighed. "If a choreography can't even amuse an outsider, do you actually think it would do well with the judges? Even _I_ can dance around like a crippled swan..."

"Well, I did have a different choreography in mind, but since we are now limited in practice time we have to play it safe," Yuuta explained with a sigh. Ah, so he did realise that this was too boring for words.

"Why play it safe? You got nothing to lose, ne?" she frowned.

"Urusai yo!" Wataru scoffed. "It's none of your business."

She rolled her eyes once again. Fine, she wouldn't say another word about it then. It's not like she cared if they would win or not. She was just trying to be helpful but apparently that was a one time deal in her case and Nippori used up all of my charity.

"It's getting late, maybe we should continue tomorrow?" Mizusawa suggested and although Yuuta looked up to protest, the others were quick to agree on this plan.

"Yoshi, let's go," Wataru nodded and got up. He tugged on the cuff, pulling her arm up.

With a frown she looked up at him, "Nani?" What did he mean by that? Wasn't this his home? They didn't need to go anywhere.

"I want to make sure those idiots don't try and ambush them again," he explained.

She wanted to protest but somewhere I felt that this was the safest option. Especially now that Saburou knew that she knew them. And she still had no idea what he was here for, nor did she trust him enough to say that he wouldn't bother them any more.

After dropping off the other guys, only Wataru, Nippori, Ryosuke and Nezumi were left. Though there were enough streetlights everywhere, it sure felt like a dark night. Maybe because she wasn't really comfortable with the current situation or maybe because for the first time since this morning she thought about Saburou and his presence here.

Nippori and Ryosuke decided to go their own way to get home and finally Wataru lead the way back to his own home, Nezumi dragging along behind him.

"Ne," She began to break the silence that had been there since they left the café, "Didn't you think Kinoko-atama was acting strangely today?"

"Dare ka?" he frowned.

She sighed, was he really that obvious as to whom she was referring to? Surely she had called her by her nickname many times in his presence, "Saruwatari?"

He shrugged. "Betsu ni... I don't really care."

"Apparently so..." she nodded. "Though Ryosuke-kun didn't seem to mind being tied together today..."

"Haa? Probably because he needs a replacement for girlfriend number 7... or 8..."

She shook her head with a grin. She knew Ryosuke was that kind of guy, though she didn't think he'd ever have much luck with Saruwatari. If she was even interested in him she wouldn't like the idea of having to share him with seven or eight other girls.

"Oi!" they stopped and look ahead. A bunch of guys awaited them, some of them carrying planks and pipes. Nezumi recognized them from the day before, some of them still carry the bruises she caused them on their cheeks and brows. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Friends of yours?" Wataru frowned.

"Please," she scoffed. "I wouldn't wanna be seen dead with them... Although they do look familiar."

"Oh, but that could be arranged," one of them said with a somewhat of a smirk painting his lips.

"I think you have to break your no fighting rule, Wataru" she told him as she kept staring at them. They looked ready for a fight and normally she would already have charged towards them but since she was limited in her movement she had to make sure he knew what was going to happen. This was going to be a very interesting fight, with them tied together and also loathing each other.

"Maa... I was getting bored anyway," he replied with a slight grin, "This is going to be easy."

As soon as he spoke those words, a few of the guys proceeded in charging towards them with their pipes and planks ready. Sure, the first few punches were easy to dodge but once the group started to increase and they found themselves pulling on each other's arms with the chains, they were limited in what they could do. Although they tried to put up a bit of a fight, once the first one got hit the other stumbled behind until they were surrounded, finding themelves fighting each other more than the other guys.

Quickly she turned around and pressed her back against Wataru as she wiped away the blood pouring down from the corner of her mouth, that familiar taste of iron running through her throat.

"This isn't working,"she growled. Unbelievable that they chose to fight right now, while she was basically helpless, stuck to Wataru while just a few days ago she kicked all of their asses all on her own.

"I hate to say this but we have to work together on this," he replied as he looks around at their opponents. He had a point there. In order to get out of this semi-alive they had to work together and use that which limited them to their advantage.

"So we cover each other?" she suggested.

"I guess so," he nodded slowly. "Yoshi, this is going to get interesting..."

So the plan was simple. They had to stand there, back to back to keep an eye on everyone. They couldn't attack on their own since they would be pulling each other different ways so they had to use defence as their offence. This was why Nezumi never worked together but she had no other choice.

The guys gave them the time to discuss their strategy as they surrounded them, but didn't have that much patience and immediately ganged up on them the moment they stopped talking. She felt Wataru tugging on her arm as he moved against one of the other guys but she could tell he was considerate enough not to pull her away this time.

As soon as one of the guys got close enough she managed to stomp him away with her fist, though she had to use her other arm and couldn't place as much strength into her punch as she usually could. This certainly was a handicapped fight for the both of them.

She glanced back at Wataru's side and grinned. she recognized one of the guys from the day before, the one who she royally pissed off last time. And he looked even more angry than before.

"Oi, Wataru," she said looking back at the guys in front of her, trying to kick them away as hard as she could, "Duck!"

"Eh?"

"Do it!"

As soon as he ducked, she placed her hands on his back for support as she swung around and flung her leg into the air, hitting that very same guy against the shoulder causing him to tumble away. she made the full round and stood up again, pulling her chained arm for Wataru to move up again.

"Was that neccesary?" he frowned.

She nodd proudly before they turned back to their opponents. It took them a while but they finally managed to scare them off. She didn't know how they even made it out alive in this situation but they did it. And they only had a few bruises here and there.

"Yatta," Wataru nodded pleased as he watched them run away. "Idiots!"

"Oi! They might turn around!" she said through gritted teeth. she wasn't exactly afraid of the fight but she didn't like having to worry about pulling herself or Wataru down with their cuffs.

"So?"

"Are are," Nezumi heared and froze. She could recognize that voice anywhere. What was he doing here again, was he following her or was this just pure coincidence? "Don't tell me you are actually getting along now?"

She turned around and indeed there he was. Saburou again, but this time he seemed to be alone. Which was odd since he never traveled alone, not even back when everyone feared their group.

"You again?"

"So rude..."he smirked as he took a few steps closer, his hands buried deep inside his pockets.

"What do you want?!" Wataru called over to him. Nezumi wanted to know that as well.

"Just checking up on an old friend..." he grinned.

"What?" she frowned. What was he talking about? And who is this old friend he spoke off? As far as she knew there was no one here who could be linked with him in any way, so why would he say that? Unless he meant her, which she doubted since that wouldn't really make sense either.

"We do need to catch up soon, Nezumi-chan" he said as he looks at her. She didn't like the way he called her Nezumi-chan at all. "Well, you better hurry home. It's long past your bedtime," He gave another quick salute accompanied by a smirk before turning around.

"Oi! Chotto Matta!" Wataru called as he wanted to go after him but Nezumi pulled him back. He frownsed at her but she shook her head. He was not someone Wataru wanted to mess with and he had no business with him in the first place. Only with Nezumi, but at least it kept her focussed on her own purpose here. As soon as Wataru and she were seperated again she would do anything in her power to finally fight Wataru and find out what Saburou was doing here in the first place.

"Ikiyou," she sighed as she turned around.

"Nezumi!" he said as he pulled her back, "I want an explanation!"

"Watashi ga anata ni nani o karite inai!" She told him. She didn't care how much he wanted an explanation, it was none of his business and she didn't owe him anything.

"Oi!"

"Wataru, kiite kure!" she turned around to look at him. "I don't care what you want, it's none of your business. And as soon as we get released from these cuffs we will have a fight, no matter how much you reject it! And I will triumph over you!" Sure that sounded slightly overdramatic but she had come to realise that she had no time to waste. For whatever reason Saburou was here, she knew that she had to finish what she came here for before dealing with that matter. She wanted to fight Wataru and make him suffer, make him pay for all the deeds that had done and after that she would focus on Saburou. "Ima... Ikou!"

He sighed with a frown painting his face, she couldn't quite make up what that particular sigh or frown meant. This guy was so hard to read, but instead of protesting or pressuring her to answer his questions, he merely walked on and dragged her behind again. Somehow she was slightly disappointed his gave up so quickly but then again he probably realised that it was no use anyways.

That night they both slept on the floor of Wataru's room. There wasn't much choice since Wataru's mother didn't want him to be selfish and take the bed and she was too proud to take the bed. Besides they would have been in awkward sleeping positions with their arms tied together. Although Wataru kept throwing glares her way she merely ignored him and decided to give him the silence treatment.

The next day she dragged behind Wataru as he marched off to school, later joined by Ryosuke and Nippori and eventually meeting up with the others. It was safe to say that both of them were in the worst moods ever, which made Nippori's energetic bouncing and loveable 'aniki' cries even more annoying and ended up in Wataru practically biting his head off.

"Ah! Wataru-kun, Nezumi-chan!" They looked up and saw Saruwatari approaching them.

Nezumi sighed irritably, "When did I give you permission to call me that?" she whined.

She shrugged with a grin, "When you decided to give me a nickname."

"But I don't try to act familiar with you!" True, only the people who were actually considered as her friends were allowed to use the –chan nickname. And since Saruwatari was no where close to being her friend she was not allowed to call her that.

"Meiwaku deshou?" she smirked before turning to us them. "Anyway, I have some good news for both of you."

"Nani desu ka?" Wataru growled at her but she ignored his tone of voice.

"This morning I found your key in our class room," she smiled proudly.

"Eh? You did?"

She nodded once again.

"Where is it?" he demanded.

"With Kashiwagi-sensei..."

"Aren't you worried he might lose it again?" Ryosuke frowned.

Nezumi nodded before turning to face her, "By the way, what were you doing in class so early?"

"I'm always early for class," she shrugged as if it was the most normal thing in the world. This girl sure was dedicated to school, it was starting to get a little creepy. Nezumi wondered what she did during spring and winter break.

"What are we waiting for?! Let's go find him!" Wataru immediately said as he started running towards the schoolgates, dragging Nezumi behind him as she tried to keep up. She didn't realise he was this fast or maybe she was just slow.

"Chotto!" Nezumi called towards him. "Ch-chotto matta, Wataru!"

"... You're welcome?!" she heared Saruwatari call after them but neither of them responded. Did she actually think they were going to thank her for this? Well, a thank you might be in place but she didn't really care about that.

* * *

><p>"There you go..." Kashiwagi smiled as he turned the keys and took off the handcuffs.<p>

"Ah~ Yokatta!" She sighed. she quickly rubbed her already sore wrists to get the feeling back after carrying that cuff around it for pretty much twenty-four hours.

"It's about time!" he nodded, relieved to be released from this sort of prison.

"Well, if it wasn't for Saruwatari-chan you would still be tied together," Kashiwagi told us. "You have her to thank really."

"If it weren't for your stupid project this whole thing would never have happened!" he bit back.

"Still... Did you learn anything out of this?" He asked, hoping his idea for a project did do them some good.

"Nani mo nai!"

Nezumi turned to Wataru as she narrowed her eyes, dropping both her arms to her side. He might not have learned anything from this but she sure did. Something very important.

"You should prepare yourself, Azuma Wataru," she told him and he turned to her with a frown. Kashiwagi seemed a little clueless of the situation but he was not their concern. "I am not going to lose from you!" with that she turned around and marched out of the classroom.


End file.
